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Environmental Scanning

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Environmental scan
What is it?
The environmental scan provides a systematic overview of the external factors that are important to the organisation (or sector) and indicates whether the organisation can influence them or not. In general the factors are classified in factors influencing the demand/need for services (and products), the supply of inputs to the project/organisation concerned, the competition and collaboration and general policy factors. The factors are also classified with respect to the positive (+) or negative (-) influence on the organisation and whether or not the factor can be influenced or just be appreciated (known and understood). What can you do with it?
Making an environmental scan results in identifying the impact of relevant factors in the environment of an organisation or sector. Whereas people often complain as powerless victims about negative factors in their environment, the environmental scan helps you to take action or adapt yourself to your environment. Scanning promotes an active response to positive (opportunities) and compliant factors, and leads to insights how to live with the
‘hard facts’. While the scan is a simple tool, it nevertheless helps to get a comprehensive view of the chief factors, helping to go beyond reacting to scattered observations.
Basic (sub-) questions
• Which (negative) factors are most opportune to try to influence?
• Which factors are most crucial to adapt your behaviour to?
• What are opportunities and threats to the organisation/sector objectives? (preliminary step to strategy decisions)
Results
• What are the main factors that have an impact on the organisation (or sector) performance? • Which factors can you influence?
• Is the impact of the factor positive or negative (given your objective and question)?
How to use it?
Process
An environmental scan can be made on an individual basis or in a group (not more than
20 people) on a participatory basis. Resource persons who have no direct interest in the outcome may be helpful in the fact-finding stage. Group sessions will take around one and a half hour.

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